The prices of eggs have shot up from $3.3 per crate in March 2016 to almost $5 in March 2017. Guess who is smiling all the way to the bank? So we reproduce the article that we first posted in March 2016 and lets see whether it makes any sense at all.
Enjoy your day
So yesterday I found myself 70 kilos from Harare…Munemo was in Beatrice!
Purpose of my journey was simple–wanted to tour a Poultry project being carried out by one of my friends. Aaaaah fabulous stuff…My friend started the project in March 2014. He borrowed $20k as initial capital to fund the project.
He used the capital to buy 1000 layers at $12 each. (Pretty expensive, $12,000 on birds alone?)The remainder of the capital was used to construct a Poultry Run that accommodates 1000 layers, also sunk a borehole n purchased poultry feed n vaccines.
Payback Period
In 2014 eggs were being sold at $4.5 per crate & my friend managed to sell all eggs resulting in him raising and returning back the capital of $19,000 in 7 months!!!
Fast forward to 2016
At first he bought point of lay chickens @ $12 per bird..very expensive arrangement. Not a sustainable arrangement. This sort of capital is definitely not easy to access…he decided to raise own chicks to cut on costs. The experiment worked, only 7 chicks died from a batch of 2040 ( 40 ma extras given by the seller)
So what did I witness yesterday? Dear forumites, I witnessed a successful project where my friend has 2000 birds producing 60 crates per day. The selling price is not good at all…now pegged @ $3,3.(Profit per bird?Eeeh did not carry out a detailed cost analysis…promise to do next time). However its important for you to know tht a layer that has reached a point of lay stage is expected to continue laying for a period of 18 months. An egg per day…
He is currently phasing out the first batch of 1000 layers.
Management
He does not need to actively manage the project…he rarely goes to the project. Infact he only goes when there is a red flag…the red flag of chickens producing eggs less than 60 crates per day. If its consistent for a number of days then he has to investigate 3 issues namely:
1.Are eggs being stolen?
2.Disease outbreak?
3.Faulty feed?
The few times he has had to investigate were prompted by faulty feed.
So once set up the project does not require a lot of management time. He visits the project once every 2 months. He however ensures that he gets daily updates of production matters such as how many crates produced-feed used etc
Labour costs
He has 3 full time employees, 2 part time guards.
Water
For this type of project one needs plenty of water. My friend did sunk a borehole(kwete tsime lol)…from the photos you can see the water tanks and pipés.
Market
Initially he used to sell his eggs to schools-churches-tuckshops and neighbours. He realised that this was not an efficient way of selling eggs with chasing up debtors going to be costly.
Mbare the Egg Market Hub
He started selling his eggs at Mbare and has never looked back!!! He delivers his eggs at Mbare on a weekly basis getting paid for his sales the following day after delivery. Current egg prices range from $3-$3,3. Mbare is now the marketing hub of eggs even the big 3 Poultry Companies now offload thousands of crates on a weekly basis at Mbare. Mbare is now the nerve centre of Eggs in Zim…eggs are transported from Mbare to areas as far as Victoria falls or Nyanga!!
His current plans
Phase out the initial offlayers(1000 birds) n replace them with road runners. Also continue with the new batch of 2000 birds.
